Improved cracker-machine



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

W. M. GARRISON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVED CRACKER-MACHINE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 55,276. dated 51111@ 5, 1856- To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM M. GARRIsoN, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Making Crackers; and I do hereby declare that the following' is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specificatiomin'which- Figure l is a plan or top View. Fig. 2 is a side elevation. Fig. 3 is a central Vertical longitudinal section.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the gures.,

This invention is designed more especially for making that variety of crackers known in the trade as butter crackers, and which are usually shaped by being pressed between the ball of the thumb and the palm of the hand.

'The invention consists in a novel construction of a machine for automatically forming the crackers from the mass of dough, whereby they are made of the same shape and configuration as those made by the ordinary operation of forming by hand and at a much more rapid rate, and consequently at al greatly-reduced cost as compared with those made by such hand process o r operation.

To enable others to understand the construction and operation of myinvention, I will proceed to describe it with reference to the drawings.

A represents a frame which supports the working parts of the machine. B is an inclined hopper, situated at the extreme upper part of the said frame A. Placed underneath -the said hopper, but with its forward side somewhat in advance of the edge thereof, is situated a transverse roller, C, and placed in front of `the said roller and in contract therewith is a similarI roller, D. The shafts of these rollers C D are connected by means of spur-Wheels E represents another transverse roller, which turns freely in its bearings, and is situated underneath the rollers C D, below their line of contact, as shown in Fig. 3, and which is furnished 'with annular grooves c of the same size and shape as the grooves c in the rollers G D, the said grooves being in line with or opposite to the grooves in the said rollers G D.

F represents two horizontal transverse sliding bars, the ends of which are fit-ted into horizontal slots or guides f formed in the sides of the frame A, and are pressed inward toward each other by spiral springs g, situated on the said slots and acting upon the outer sides of the said ends. These bars F are automatically forced apart by means of cam-wheels, (shown in dotted lines at h in Fig. 3,) and operating between the ends of the said bars, which are brought together again by the spiral springs f, there being one of the cam-wheels h at each of the opposite ends of the said bars. These cam-wheels h are iixed upon the inner sides of spungears j, which turn on stationary axles 7c projecting out from the sides of the fra-me A. Secured upon the outer side of one of these spur-gears j is a disk, upon the periphery of which is formed a number of toothed racks or sectors m, which mesh into the cog-wheel d of the roller C and communicate an intermittent rotary motion to the same.

The sliding bars F constitute the cutters which divide the dough into lumps or balls of suitable size to form the crackers, and to this end their inner sides are provided at both their upper and lower edges with notches n, the said notches n being in line with the annular grooves on the rollers C D E. The shape of these notches n is that of sectors of spheres, and the notches n in one of the said bars F are opposite those in the other, sothat when thel two bars are in contact with each other, as shown in Fig. 3, the junction of two opposite notches will form a semi-spherical recess or cavity, the object of which will presently appear.

Placed transversely in the lower part of the frame A are two rollers, G, which carry an endless platform, H, formed of transverse bars or lags r, secured upon endless belts which pass over and around the aforesaid rollers G, the upper surface of this endless platform being hat and horizontal7 as shown in the draw ings. Formed lengthwise in the upper surface of each bar r is a series of shallow rounded cavities or recesses, r', the cavities in one bar being in line with those in the adjacent bars, so that the said cavities are also situated in rows longitudinally in the said endless platform H. These shallow cavities r resemble in shape the hollow in the palm of the human hand, and are designed to shape that side of the cracker which is shaped by the palm of the hand in the manufacture ot' butter-crackers in the usual way.

I are upright tubes, open at both ends, and arranged in a row underneath and parallel with the bars F, and in such relation thereto as to receive the lumps of dough as they are cut olf by the said bars and conduct them to the cavities r', as will be presently further set forth.

J are vertical standards, which project up from opposite sides of the frame A, and working in suitable bearin gs therein is a transverse shaft, s, and fixed upon each end of this shaft s, outside of the standards J, is a spur-wheel, K. These spur-wheels mesh into the spurwheels j, which carry the cam-Wheels h, and each has fixed upon its inner side a cam-wheel, u, (shown in Fig. 2, and also in dotted lines in Fig. 3,) the cams on one of these cam-wheels a being vexactly opposite those on the other to insure their simultaneous action on the sliding frame L, as will be presently set forth.

M is a driving-shaft, which may be turned either by hand or power, and which is provided with a pinion, o, which meshes into one of the spur-wheels K, and also with a crank pin or wrist, w, to which is attached a pawl, N, which acts upon a ratchet-wheel, It, fixed upon one end of the shaft of one of the rollers G, so that the rotation of the drivingshaft communicates an intermittent motion to the endless platform H.

The frame L is composed of an upper and a lower transverse bar, the ends of which work in suitable vertical slots or guides a in the standards J, and are connected by the vertical braces b', which are secured upon one side of the transverse bars just mentioned, so that the 'movements of the frame L may not be interfered with by the shaft s. The ends of the upper bar of this sliding frame L project through the guides or slots in the standards J, and rest upon the cam-wheels u in such manner that the rotation of the said cam-wheels alternately raise in the frameL and allow it to drop either by its own weight alone .or by the impulse gtiven by a spring or springs above it, as shown a x.

` Placed in the lower part of the frame L, and with their lower ends projecting' below the same, is a rowr or series of dotters, T, each of which strikes the lump of dough in the cavity r below it, and thus determines the shape of the. upper or hollow side of the cracker. These dotters may be of the same construction as the ordinary dotter used in the operation of making' butter-crackers by hand.

The driving-shaft M being rotated by any suitable means, the pinion u turns the spurwheel K, and consequently operates the camwheels u to alternately raise the frame L with its attached dotters 'l and let it drop, as just hereinbefore explained, at the same time that the said spur-wheels K, actin g on the spurwheels j, cause the canrwheels h to alternately spread the cutting-bars F apart and allow them to be brought together by the springs g, as hereinbefore explained, the spur-gear d being partially rotated by the sectors m on the disk attached to the wheel j while the said bars F are being spread apart, and remaining stationary while they are coming together, while the pawl N, acting on the ratchet-wheel R, turns the said ratchet-wheel sufficiently to move the upper side of the endless platform H forward a distance equal to the width of one of the lags r of the said platform, the rising of the frame L, the spreading apart of the cutting-bars F, the intermittent movement of the rollers O D, and the partial rotation of the ratchet-wheel R taking place simultaneously.

The operation of the invention is as follows The dough, being irst rolled into a sheet of suitable width and thickness, is laid upon the hopper B with its edge between the rollers C D. The intermittentrotary motion of the said rollers draws the dough downward between them and divides it into cylindrical strings, which pass down through the grooves c of the said rollers C D, and are guided by the grooves e in the roller E, so that their lower ends enter between the opposite notches n in the cuttingbars F when the said bars are spread apart, as just described, and as soon as the motion of the rollers C D is stopped the said bars spring together and cut a piece from the lower end of each string of dough, the upper end piece out off being pressed into semi-spherical shape by the concave shape, hereinbefore described, of the notches u in the lower edges of the said bars, while the ends of the strings of dough are made of similar semi-spherical shape by the corresponding form of the notches a in the upper edges thereof. .By this means the lumps of dough cut olf from the said strings are made of globular form, one-half of each lump being shaped by the operation of cutting olf the previous lump, while the other half thereof is shaped while being itself cut otf from the string of dou gh, as just setforth. The globularlumps of dough th us formed fall into the tubes I, and are conducted thereby to the cavities r in the surface of the endless platform H, and carried forward by the intermittent motion of the said platform until they are brought underneath the dotters .I, whereupon the frame L, carrying the said dotters, descends, and the dotters stamp or press the lumps into the proper shape to form crackers, the upper side of each cracker receiving a concave form by being shaped and dotted by the convex lower end of the dotter and the points thereon, while the under side of the cracker is convex or rounded by being pressed into the concave cavities r. lhe inished crackers fall from the endless platform as it passes around the forward roller G and are deposited in any suitable receptacle placed to receive them. By these means the several operations required in shaping the crackers are successively performed.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of cutting-bars F with the grooved rollers G D, substantially as herein set forth, for the purpose specified.

2. The combination of the conducting-tubes I with the cutting-bars F and the recessed endless platform H, substantially as herein set forth, for the purpose specified.

3. The sliding frame L, carrying the dotters T, and arranged in relation with the recesses r of the endless platform H, substantially as herein set forth, for the purpose specified. l

Witnesses: WM. M. GARRISON.

J. W. GooMBs, A. LE CLERC. 

